Second Cup: You could just do it now

There is never a perfect time

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that sometimes we overthink things. If there is
something you need to do and you have been putting

(00:25):
it off, you could just do it now and then
you would be on the other side of it, and
wouldn't that feel amazing? So I will start this podcast
by saying that I am normally a big fan of
batching little tasks. Generally it is not efficient to do

(00:45):
little things like paying bills, responding to invitations, and filing paperwork.
Whenever these things occur to you, you will feel pulled
in a million directions and like you are never getting
anything that matters done. Best to batch the little things
during one lower energy time and preserve your best, most

(01:08):
energetic times for other things. But sometimes we really start
to put certain tasks off. I have been guilty of
not wanting to send an email or make a call
that I know will disappoint someone, or I need to
call customer service about a problem and whoever wants to

(01:29):
do that. The other day I needed to go to
the pediatrician to drop off some forms that needed to
be signed and then they did that quite quickly, so
I had to go back to pick them up, and
I was kind of hemming and hawing about when would
be the right time to go do this errand, but
then I realized that I didn't have anything scheduled for

(01:51):
the next forty five minutes or so, so why not
just do it now? These tasks tend not to be fun,
but if they have to be done, then they have
to be done. You can try to find a perfect time,
but there is never going to be a perfect time
to call customer service, tell a vendor you're not going

(02:13):
to be using them any more, or ask your contractor
to come back to reduce something. So here's an idea.
Just do it now. If you are in the car
well after you pull into the parking lot at work,
do the thing. Then, if you are listening to this
at home while folding laundry, stop folding laundry and get

(02:34):
this thing over with. It won't be enjoyable, but once
you do it, it will be done and it won't
be hanging over your head for any more time. The
longer these unpleasant tasks linger on a to do list,
the more psychological power they start to have. You start

(02:56):
thinking through hypothetical ways the conversation might go. Well, better
to spend that mental energy having the actual conversation right.
If you do it now, most likely in a very
short amount of time you will be on the other
side of the experience, and honestly, that is a much

(03:19):
better place to be. So how about just doing it now?
Things won't be different in an hour or tomorrow or
on Monday morning. If there really is never going to
be a perfect time, now just might be as good
a time as Eddie. In the meantime, This is Laura.

(03:42):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

(04:03):
Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

(04:27):
is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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